Bass - mystical beast?

[codseeker]

look ya get sick of hearing about bass,dont taste good pure sh!t ,over rated fish rather eat a mackerel or some other cr@p,and i dont eat much fish i catch ,so heres for the next month or 4 ,happy fishing

[5150]

Bass are a fantastic fight on light gear, yes they taste amazing - but I'd also say that they taste best w/in a few hours of being caught. I used to fish the old power-station hot-pipe at Cambois (don't mind mentioning it since it's not there now!), took Bass to 7.5lb and Mullet to 5lb. I'd say the Mullet was equally as nice to be honest. Bass has a less oily flesh but similar in texture to mackeral and similar species, cooks nicely no matter how you approach it, probably would smoke well. Go to a Chinese supermarket and get them frozen, little difference to fresh bar the cost which is a lot less.

Fight wise, if you fish for the sport of the catch, then fish for flatties on very light gear in an estuary or mackeral on a carp rod - you'll get more fun and more likely to catch.

btw - I've seen the water fin-to-fin of bass off that (now gone) pipe, seen double figure sized fish in the water (ignoring baits the swines!) and landed many good sized catches (released or stopped when I'd caught what I could eat, but will admit to swapping a fish or two for an evenings meal from another Bass lover of oriental origins.), seen a lot of lads there though who were out for the money, taking as many fish as possible then heading into Newcastle to flog them to the restaurants at a premium :-/

[Charlton]

was at Sambuccas on the quay last night had "red snapper" absolutely delicious

[TerryC]

Terry, agree with one staement, yes pollock are good fighting fish, but they taste like sXXt, no charlie i will not eat them all i taste is iodine

I hadn't realised that they taste like Iodine to other people. I like those Iodized throat lozenes so that may account for my high rating for taste. Funny old world !!

[Charlton]

terry
eat a fishermans friend (waiting for the comments) every day but still dont like pollock

[braine]

You must be catching your Pollack from the kelp beds Alan. I find a fresh Pollack tastes like a cross between Haddock and cod, fairly sweet and firm fleshed. Wrasse are "iodine" and taste like *##*#.
As for fighting fish, Mackerel on fly gear, Bass very similar, Mullet and Mackerel on fresh water float tackle is great sport. It is all a matter of using the correct tactics for the fish and the area. up North here it has took a while to get away from rippers and big lures with 50lb braid and 50lb class rods to fish the wrecks. We rarely hear of conger or tope being caught but there are plenty for the taking, you just need to change the approach. Bass and Mullet and plenty of other species are there for the taking. It just takes a few tries with different gear with a few blank sessions thrown in before you get it right - sometimes, but it is all worth it in the end. Ever caught whiting or Haddock on light gear? A fish only weighs one third of its air weight in water so a 30lb cod is only 10 lbs in the water. It is not a question of fishing light but fishing right!